The Effects Of Teacher Community Of Practice On Middle School English Teachers' Beliefs About Grammar Teaching

In recent years,teachers' beliefs,as major parts of teacher cognition,have aroused wide attention from foreign and domestic scholars.Gradually,teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching have grown into one of the research focuses.After community of practice was put forward,its promotion to teacher' professional development has been continuously verified.Therefore,the current study was designed to explore the effects of teacher community of practice on middle school English teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching,and to interpret how teacher community of practice affected teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching based on Activity Theory.Taking a qualitative longitudinal case study approach,this study recruited three middle school English teachers as participants,mainly answering three research questions: the initial beliefs about grammar teaching of the three teachers before learning in teacher community of practice;the changes they experienced in their beliefs about grammar teaching after learning in teacher community of practice;and the process in which teacher community of practice influenced teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching.Multiple sources of data have been collected for 4 months through different instruments,including interviews,observations,and reflective journals.The major findings are as follows:Before learning in teacher community of practice,most of the teachers held traditional beliefs about grammar teaching,believing that linguistic forms and traditional teaching and practicing approaches should be applied.After learning in teacher community of practice,communicative beliefs were absorbed into their initial belief system and applied to their actual grammar classes.The changes in their beliefs about grammar teaching were mainly manifested in five aspects: views on grammar teaching(teaching objectives,teaching approaches & teaching contents),roles of teachers and students,correction of grammar errors,evaluation methods and practicing.Teacher community of practice,as an activity system,affected teachers' beliefs about grammar teaching mainly through the dynamic interactions of differentelements in it: the interaction of the three teachers and their goals/motives;the interaction of the three teachers and mediating tools;and the interaction of the three teachers and situational factors.The present study documents the effects of teacher community of practice on teachers' beliefs thoroughly,so it offers some implications for both in-service teacher education and teacher's professional development.